The 30-stock BSE index Sensex has turned into a mine field for investors with just three stocks posting gains around noon with the rest 27 in the red.
In fact, about 30 minutes ago, all the 30 index stocks were in the red but three managed to claw back to the green.
It is not clear what triggered the selling pressure with the Sensex down by more than 300 points and the Nifty down by more than 100 points, though the truce over FDI in retail reached yesterday proved to be short-lived with Parliament again being disrupted today.
Infrastructure major L&T came for special pounding losing about 4 per cent or Rs 54 to slip below the crucial Rs 1,300 mark to trade around Rs 1,277.
SBI, which made gains even when other bank counters were slipping earlier, retracted today to lose Rs 60.20 to trade around Rs 1,876.50. Reliance was another major loser, shedding Rs 24.30 to Rs 784.90. Software major Infosys lost Rs 35 to trade around Rs 2,717.
Some of the other significant losers were Bharti Airtel, which was down by Rs 9.80 to Rs 367.50, ICICI Bank, which shed Rs 15.35 to Rs 752.40, and M&M that was down to Rs 736.85, a loss of Rs 20.60.
The only gainers were Cipla, Hero Motorcorp and Wipro but the gains were marginal.
The wild swings the markets have been witnessing has unnerved the investors who may prefer for the markets to stabilise before taking a call particularly as the developments over the spectrum issue in the court would have to be watched.